Chicken Pot Pie — Down-Home Comfort

Chicken Pot Pie

Virginia Willis, 2014, Television Food Network, G.P. All Right Reserved

Virginia Willis' Chicken Pot Pie for FoodNetwork.com

Who can resist this creamy, savory comfort food with moist, tender chicken and vegetables bathed in gravy and crowned with a buttery, crispy topping? There’s nothing heartier than a rich, flaky pot pie. Chicken pot pie is a comfort food known for its satisfying richness.

The combination of vegetables and meat in gravy tucked into a pastry crust is an ancient one. (Early Greeks and Romans must have needed a little down-home comfort too!) Later, during the Middle Ages, pot pies were elaborate savory pastries decorated with flowers and fantastic designs — even filled with live birds! They were considered a showpiece, evidence of the chef’s culinary skills. It’s a bit like putting lipstick on a pig, in my opinion. Pot pie is best left to being its homey, comforting self.

You can use leftover chicken, poach chicken in stock or water, and even take a shortcut and use rotisserie chicken. I’m including a recipe for an easy Beginner’s Pie Crust, but using store-bought pastry sheets would make this an easy weeknight supper.

Bon Appétit, Y’all!

Inspired to make your comfort food favorites? Up the ante and try these fun recipes:

Georgia-born, French-trained Chef Virginia Willis has cooked lapin Normandie with Julia Child in France, prepared lunch for President Clinton and harvested capers in the shadow of a smoldering volcano in Sicily, but it all started in her grandmother’s country kitchen. A Southern food authority, she is the author of Bon Appétit, Y’all and Basic to Brilliant, Y’all, among others. Follow her continuing exploits at VirginiaWillis.com.

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